If you're searching for a reason not to have sex with animals, add this to the list: It could give you penis cancer, according to a new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
The authors found that men who have had sex with animals were twice as likely to develop penile cancer as those who stick with their own kind.
Lead author Stenio de Cassio Zequi, a urologist in Sao Paulo, gave Live Science his theory explaining the increased risk.
"We think that the intense and long-term SWA [sex with animals] practice could produce micro-traumas in the human penile tissue," Zequi said. "The genital mucus membranes of animals could have different characteristics from human genitalia, and the animals' secretions are probably different from human fluids. Perhaps animal tissues are less soft than ours, and non-human secretions would be toxic for us."
A female member of Equality For All, a pro-zoophilia group, told The Huffington Post that
the results of the study should prompt people to take precautions, like using a condom, when having sex with animals, but she said it likely would not deter diehard zoophiles.
"Expecting people who truly love animals to give up their sexuality and nature just because of some physical dangers would be as absurd as expecting gays to become straight because of AIDS," Sallie Graves wrote in an email.
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